European Union civil society support and the depoliticisation of Turkish civil society

Despite growing critical literature on external funding, the link between EU funding to Turkish civil society organisations (CSOs) and their depoliticisation remains understudied. This article fills this gap. This article explores EU funds in Turkey and shows the incentives it creates for a depoliticised civil society. Drawing on an original set of interviews with 45 CSOs, this article analyses how Turkish CSOs interact with EU funding and how this support impacts on Turkish civil society. This article argues that EU funding’s short-term, activity-based, measurable outcome and visibility-oriented structure contributed to the depoliticisation of those CSOs benefited from EU funds.     

Local Government Finance Office Orientation Revisited: Actually,It’s All About Control

In states with heavy oversight of local government finances, alternate levels of control orientation exist based on county government budget formulation and financing practices. However, previous research indicates a possible trend toward policy orientation. Using survey data from North Carolina counties, initial findings indicate high levels of finance officer budget formulation discretion as well as county manager agreement with budget decisions. Additional logit models suggest that while stakeholder influence is still present along with remnants of policy orientation, the state financial oversight mechanism along with the background, knowledge of departmental financial needs, and frequent departmental appropriation dissemination by the finance officer, continue to sustain control orientation.     

Canadian Concerns of a Different Kind of Brexit: Britain’s First Application to the EEC and Canada’s Commonwealth Appeal

Recent debates on Brexit have made several attempts to connect the current situation with Britain’s first attempt to gain entry to the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1961. In both 2016 and 1961, questions were raised about what role the Commonwealth would take and how the relationship with Britain would adapt to their then-entry and current exit of a union with Europe. This article seeks to examine how Canada reacted to Britain’s decision to enter the EEC and sheds light on the vociferous opposition it raised within the Commonwealth. Using both British and Canadian cabinet minutes and Commonwealth memoranda, the article follows the Canadian campaign against British entry to the EEC and its fervent defence of the Commonwealth as an economic-focused community. Ultimately, the Canadian-led protest against British entry into the EEC derived from a fear that Britain would drift from the Commonwealth towards Europe, leading to the complete dissolution of the economic bonds that tie the community together.     

Revisiting Transnational European Consociationalism: The European Union a Decade After Lisbon

This article discusses the notion of consociationalism as applied to the EU and assesses whether the institutional and procedural changes introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon (ToL) and by the management of the Euro and refugee crises still warrant considering the EU as a case of consociational democracy. Our contention is that the changes introduced by the ToL bore the promise to strengthen the consociational structural traits of the Union but that the further institutional and procedural changes engendered by the management of the Euro and refugee crises have made the behavioral dimension of consociationalism all the more necessary just as the accommodating orientation of the political elites had begun to evaporate. We support this argument by looking at empirical evidence which allows us to offer a set of propositions on the effects of the recent crises on the attitudes of the European elites towards the future of EU democracy.     

The Conservatives' Grassroots 'Revival'

Healthy party grassroots constituency organisations play an important part in modern electoral campaigning, especially in marginal seats, and political parties try to concentrate their efforts on those closely contested constituencies. Recent evidence on party fund-raising at a local level shows that the Conservatives have taken considerable strides in supporting their campaign organisations in marginals, and have done so in a way which enhances their long-term campaigning potential there. The party's grassroots organisations are increasingly well-resourced, especially in the seats the Conservatives need to win back if they are to win the next General Election. However, while fund-raising suggests a healthy grassroots where it is needed, party membership data highlights continued problems for the party.     

欧盟非正规就业对工会的挑战

欧盟国家非正规就业的迅速发展,使工会面临着严峻的挑战。非正规就业的增加直接冲击了传统工会的基础,使工会会员的绝对和相对人数都有很大降低;同时,工会领导的劳工运动长期忽略对非正规就业的权利保护,非正规就业工人难以获得与正规就业平等的待遇。因此,欧盟国家工会需要在增加非正规就业会员和就业监管策略两方面做战略性调整,以应对非正规就业的挑战。     

财政市场、土地资本化与异质性城市化

在以政府为主导的城市化进程中,土地财政成为了地方政府“经营城市”的重要手段。我国土地财政规模大、比例高,其形成不仅源于地方政府财权、事权不对等和地区之间、官员之间的竞争,究其质里,则是政府实现财政市场目标的行为投射。地方政府融资平台也基于相同的逻辑生成,帮助实现了土地财政的本质——资本化,弥补了地方政府的财政缺额。但是,土地的资本化提高了城市化成本,衍生出异质性,形成了空间与人口的矛盾,积累了凝结在城市中的金融、社会和道德风险,亟需引起重视。     

公共财政框架下的国库集中支付制度改革

公共财政是与社会主义市场经济体制相适应的,其有别于我国传统"生产建设型财政"的内容和要求,进行国库集中支付制度改革是健全公共财政体制的应有之义和具体的实现途径。在市场经济条件下,我国传统的国库分散管理制度显露出种种弊端,与公共财政的框架格格不入。因此,实行国库集中支付制度的改革有许多重要的现实意义和积极作用。但此项改革涉及面广,需要相关配套改革措施的配合和及时跟进,才能取得应有的效果。     

深化农村金融改革的思考

新农村建设需要农村金融的鼎力支持,但现实的农村金融存在诸多问题,与新形势发展很不适应。深化农村金融改革要做好几方面工作:加大对农村资金的投放;加快正规金融机构改革的步伐;规范民间金融组织;发展多种金融产品;大力发展小额信贷;开展农村金融市场的有效竞争;加快制定和完善农村金融法规。     

What Limits for Government Control? Civil Liberties and Anti‐terror Measures after the Heathrow Bomb Plot

The threat posed by transnational terrorism has excited debate about how best to calibrate relations between government, the courts and parliament: how can the provision of internal security be facilitated, whilst respecting freedoms and ensuring that policies enjoy broad legitimacy? Attention has focussed primarily on the power of the courts. Sections of the government have mooted a curtailment of judicial competencies; by contrast, a broad range of actors calls for ‐ at the least ‐ the maintenance of current judicial powers as the best means to prevent government from exploiting its already large scope for manoeuvre, as well as to overcome public scepticism. Yet the current debate misses the point that relations between government, courts and parliament have already been altered. Government has gained extra political resources thanks to its participation in forms of international counterterrorist cooperation. This shift of power, and associated problems, were clear during the recent ‘Heathrow bomb plot’.